IRAQ: TV commentator who criticized government is shot

Baghdad is buzzing about the shooting Monday night of a prominent TV commentator who regularly criticized the government on his show "Without Fences" on the privately owned Al-Diyar TV station.

Imad Abadi was shot in the head and neck by gunmen using a pistol equipped with a silencer at about 8 p.m. as he rode in his car in the Salhiya neighborhood not far from Baghdad's Green Zone. He managed to keep driving to an Iraqi checkpoint, and doctors today said his chances of recovery are good.

"For sure it is the politicians who are responsible," said Ziad Ajili, the head of the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, an independent press freedom group. "He was very brave in exposing corruption and he is one of the most prominent journalists who are criticizing the political parties."

Al Sharqiya TV repeatedly played throughout the day a recent clip of an interview with Abadi, speaking of receiving threats to his life, the dangers facing journalists in Iraq and the scale of corruption in Iraq.

IRAN: Campaign launched to annoint Neda Agha-Soltan Time magazine's Person of the Year 2009

The flickering images of Neda Agha-Soltan’s last moments in a Tehran street on June 20 before she died from gunshot wounds gripped the world, galvanized the nation and made the 26-year-old music student the face of Iran’s recent protest movement.

Five months after an unknown assailant took her life at a demonstration in the Iranian capital staged by pro-reform activists, supporters across the world have spearheaded a grassroots initiative in a move to immortalize her.

Through the use of various social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter, they are pushing to make Agha-Soltan Time magazine’s Person of the Year 2009.

Each year, the U.S.-based magazine grants the title to one or several persons who "most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year."

Administrators of the more than 1,000-member strong Facebook group "Nominate Neda Agha-Soltan as the Time Woman of the Year" say she deserves the title because she has become “the symbol of the recent Iranian movement towards democracy and freedom" through her tragic death that shocked the world.

MIDDLE EAST: Women's status up in Saudi Arabia, down in Syria, says study

The subject of women's rights in the Middle East is contentious. Sensational media coverage of honor killings and child brides equates religious conservatism with gender inequality, incensing Western feminists on the one hand and provoking regional backlashes on the other.

The reality is far more nuanced, according to the the 2009 Global Gender Gap Report released in late October by the World Economic Forum, which ranks countries based on women's economic participation, educational attainment, health and political empowerment.

In Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar -- socially conservative Persian Gulf countries that all rely on some form of Sharia Islamic law -- more women than men enroll in higher education, although they have yet to be fully incorporated into the workforce. 

Syria, on the other hand, which is ruled by a nominally secular regime, has slid in the rankings for the last three years. 

Iran scores low in the fields of economic, educational and health equality, but performs relatively well on political empowerment. 

Saudi Arabia and Egypt still hover near the bottom of the list, but have improved steadily since 2006. 

Yemen remained the lowest-ranked country in the world for the fourth year in a row.

EGYPT: Speculations grow around the ban of Iranian TV channel

The recent barring of Iran's Arabic-speaking news channel, al-Alam, or the World, from two Egyptian and Arabic satellite companies has prompted a number of contradicting suggestions over the motives behind the decision.

Both satellite companies -- the Egyptian-owned Nilesat and the Saudi-managed Arabsat -- ended the World's broadcast signal last week without warning.

Nilesat's executive director, Ahmed Anis, announced that the broadcasting was cut due to contract violations. But the head of the World's bureau in Cairo said he was informed by Nilesat officials that the decision came from a higher Egyptian government authority.

TUNISIA: Online activists rally to free fellow blogger Fatma Riahi [Updated]

Lina Ben Mhenni was one of the last people to see Fatma Riahi the day she was arrested. The two women bloggers had been in touch online and by phone, but it wasn't until Ben Mhenni saw that Riahi's Facebook profile and blog had been shut down that they made urgent plans to meet for coffee on last Sunday. Riahi, a high school drama teacher in the small seaside city of Monastir, had been ordered to report to the Criminal Brigade in the capital, Tunis, where Ben Mhenni lives.

"From one cup of coffee, we spent the whole day together," Ben Mhenni wrote of Riahi in a series of e-mails to the Times. "In fact, I discovered an exceptional person -- funny, full of life, [an] artist [...] We talked about music, we laughed watching Tunisian television, we talked about blogs and bloggers."

They also talked about the Criminal Brigade, the investigative security force Riahi would have to answer to, and Ben Mhenni's boyfriend, Muhammad Soudani, who was arrested on Oct. 22 after giving an interview to a foreign radio station and has not been seen since.

[Updated, Saturday, Nov. 7, at 11:55 p.m. PST: Fatma Riahi was released Saturday morning, according to a statement posted on the Facebook page and blog devoted to her release. 

The statement said Riahi was in good health but was still in danger of being re-arrested.]

IRAN: In wake of protests, accusations and counter-accusations of media lies

 

It was supposed to be a public show of Iranian unity during day marking the 30-year anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by Islamic revolutionaries.

But not only did anti-government demonstrators, many of them dressed in green scarves and headbands,  hijack the state-sponsored event. They also managed to steal the media's attention media, much to the displeasure of the authorities, who blamed the Western media for distorting the facts.

On the other hand, Iran's official media, also appeared to play fast and loose with reality. 

IRAN: 'Dull' annual press fair turns into a chaotic protest, counter-protest

An ordinarily staid annual media expo in Tehran erupted into chaos this week as opposition supporters and pro-government militiamen squared off. 

Normally, the 16-year-old exhibition is meant to showcase Iranian press as well as international news outlets with a presence in the Islamic Republic. Last year, even the Los Angeles Times was invited to set up a booth.

Alas, no invite for us this year following the political and social tension unleashed by Iran's disputed June 12 reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

TUNISIA: Government cracks down on press freedoms, opposition before elections

It's a big weekend for Tunisia's longtime ruler, Zine el Abidine ben Ali.

Less so for its voters.

Ben Ali, who has ruled the North African country since wresting power from previous lifetime President Habib Bourguiba in 1987, is expected to extend his mandate Sunday through an election his critics have described as a "masquerade." 

Ben Ali has introduced constitutional amendments to allow himself to run for another term, limit the number of opposition candidates and guarantee his Constitutional Democratic Rally an overwhelming majority in parliament.

The U.S.-based advocacy group Committee to Protect Journalists has criticized the Tunisian government for its news media crackdown, including the arrests and violent attacks on critical Tunisian writers. This week, French reporter Florence Beauge was detained while attempting to enter the country and sent back to Paris.

But Tunisia's relative stability and secularism have made it a Western ally in the global "war on terror," and the same international community that condemned Iran's and Afghanistan's flawed elections is unlikely to exert the same pressure on Tunisia, despite recent crackdowns on reporters and serious opposition figures.

EGYPT: Newspaper banned after accusing actors of homosexuality

The weekly independent newspaper, Al Balagh Al Gadid, has been banned after reporting that three prominent Egyptian actors were caught in a prostitution network for homosexuals.

In a story published last week, the paper reported that actors Nour El Sherif, above, Khaled Aboul Naga and Hamdi El Wazir were questioned by police for being part of a homosexuals' network, which was allegedly discovered last month at the Semiramis Intercontinental Hotel in Cairo.

While police sources denied the story, the newspaper said the actors were investigated by authorities before they bribed officers and the hotel management to disregard the whole incident and keep it quiet. The actors were outraged by the report, saying the newspaper's story was groundless. They filed lawsuits against the publication's chief editor, executive chief editor and one of its reporters.

EGYPT: Swedish journalist deported

A Swedish journalist was deported by Egyptian state security officials today after he was detained at Cairo's airport Tuesday and prevented from entering the country.

Per Bjorklund, who has been living in Cairo for the last three years as a freelance writer, was stopped by immigration officers upon his return from Sweden via Prague with his girlfriend. He was held at the airport for nearly 48 hours and then put on a plane out of the country. He arrived in Stockholm this afternoon.

Officials gave no reason for deporting Bjorklund, but the 30-year-old said that he was informed by security personnel that his name was on a blacklist. "Airport officers didn’t even know why I was being detained. It is obvious that my deportation was a decision that came from a higher authority," Bjorklund told The Times from Stockholm.